The term “powered vehicle” will be used herein to refer to a vehicle having an internal source (e.g., internal combustion engine, battery) of electrical power. Examples of powered vehicles include cars, motorcycle, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The term “non-powered vehicle” will be used herein to refer to any vehicle that is not normally equipped with a power source capable of providing electrical power. Examples of non-powered vehicles include bicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, velomobiles, skateboards, rollerblades, and scooters. Powered vehicles typically include sensors from which certain operational characteristics of the vehicle may be measured. Non-powered vehicles, on the other hand, are not typically manufactured with a sensor infrastructure for determining operational characteristics of the non-powered vehicle.
The operator may have the desire to measure and/or record certain operating characteristics of either powered or non-powered vehicles. While a powered vehicle may have the sensor infrastructure for measuring and/or recording operating characteristics, the data collected by this sensor infrastructure may not be what the operator desires to measure and/or record and is, in most cases, typically not made available to the typical operator in a usable form. And non-powered vehicles are typically devoid of any sensor infrastructure for measuring and/or recording vehicle operating characteristics.
The need thus exists for systems and methods that provide a sensor infrastructure to powered and non-powered vehicles to facilitate the measurement and/or recording of operational characteristics of the powered or non-powered vehicle.